By Julie Sweet
Digital fluency is helping to level the playing field between men and women at work. Recent research from Accenture found that when men and women have the same level of digital fluency, women are better than men at using those skills to gain more education and find work.
Accenture surveyed nearly 5,000 men and women in 31 countries. We combined our findings with data from organizations, such as the World Bank, on education enrollment, labor participation and women in managerial roles.
Our study predicts that, if we can double the pace at which women become frequent users of digital technologies, the workplace could reach gender equality by 2040 in developed nations and by 2060 in developing nations. The study found that nations with higher rates of digital fluency among women have higher rates of gender equality in the workplace. For example, the US, the Netherlands, the UK and the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland) have the highest digital fluency scores and rank among the top performers in workplace equality.
Countries such as Saudi Arabia, and to a lesser extent Italy and Japan, have reasonable levels of digital fluency, but aren’t achieving the outcomes we would expect. In these cases cultural factors are a significant consideration.
The largest gaps between the digital fluency of men and women appear in Japan, Singapore, France and Switzerland.
The link between digital fluency, education attainment, employment and workplace equality should motivate public policy. To start, governments should focus on providing women with greater access to broadband Internet at an affordable price.
The US Federal Communications Commission just approved a $9.25 monthly broadband subsidy for low-income households. Finland has defined broadband Internet access as a legal right. The UK has published a digital inclusion charter aimed at promoting broadband access “at scale.”
For businesses, access to up-to-date technology and online collaboration tools is critical. Female employees will learn by doing, certainly, but mentorships and training—ranging from basic courses on transferring social and networking skills to the digital world to technical courses in coding—are critical to keep women current.
Julie Sweet is the group chief executive of North America at Accenture.